Number of cheap lodging houses increases to most ever

According to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, there were 29,559 “cheap lodging houses” in business in the nation during 2016 that is 2,390 increase from the previous year and most ever.

The Japanese government removed the ban on vacation rentals and allowed owners to obtain a permission to keep such lodging houses in April 2016. The Ministry assumes this change of law caused the increase in the number of the cheap lodging houses. There are 2,898 such lodgings within Okinawa prefecture, the second most in the country.

The new rules don’t stipulate a minimum number for guest rooms in cheap lodging houses, and other regulations are not different from the Inns and Hotels Act. B&B and youth hostel establishments now are counted in the category of the cheap lodging houses.